Nuclear Law Research Guide

By Linda Tashbook

Linda Tashbook is the Foreign International Comparative Law Librarian at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law's Barco Law Library, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, and an attorney in private practice.  Prior to becoming the foreign and international librarian, she was the Barco Law Library's Electronic Services Librarian.  Before law school, she worked as a public librarian. Her Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees are from the University of Pittsburgh.

Published October 2011

An atom is the smallest unit of any element.  The core of an atom is its nucleus, which is a combination of particles called protons and neutrons.  Protons are positively charged particles and neutrons are neutral. Spinning around the outside of the nucleus are electrons; electrons are very small negatively charged particles.  The particular combination of protons, neutrons, and electrons in the atoms of an element provide the element’s identity. 

Two elements, plutonium and uranium, have variations (isotopes) which, when hit with an extra neutron that moves slowly, will split-- sending their neutrons crashing into other atoms causing those to split.  All of this action, called fission, generates energy.  Since it happens in the nucleus, the energy is called nuclear energy. 

This fast chain reaction of spare neutrons from broken atoms hitting and breaking other atoms can be controlled by the addition of certain other elements or else it can be allowed to continue until so much energy builds-up that it causes an explosion.  In other words, the process that generates safe nuclear energy is the same process that generates dangerous nuclear weapons.

Nuclear law regulates the possession, transportation, storage, and distribution of the plutonium and uranium isotopes that are prone to nuclear fission and it also regulates the ways fission has to be controlled.  All of the following types of resources contain useful information about the existence, meaning, application, or enforcement of international nuclear law.

 

Table of Contents

Ready Reference
International Organizations
Treaties
National Laws
Case Reports
Books
Journals

Ready Reference
When researchers need a fundamental factual understanding about nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, such as definitions, abbreviations, or basic statistics, consult the following authoritative sources:

• Glossary of Nuclear Terms (World Nuclear Association)
• IAEA Safety Glossary: Terminology Used in Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection
• World Nuclear Statistics (Nuclear Energy Institute)
• Nuclear Data Bank (OECD) –mainly scientific data
• PRIS - Worldwide Database of Nuclear Power Plant Characteristics & Performance (International Atomic Energy Association)
• Nuclear Weapons Primer (Simple Thinking)
• Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What At a Glance (Arms Control Association)
• Country Resources (Arms Control Association): This is a country-by-country roster of nuclear treaty participation, weapons practices, proliferation record, and other arms control activities.
   

International Organizations

There are numerous agencies responsible for the layers of communication, regulation, and enforcement associated with nuclear resources.  Note that this list identifies IGO’s working on official information sharing, safety and security.  It does not include the many NGO advocacy and education organizations that may have information of interest to legal researchers, but which are not directly involved in making or enforcing international law.

 

A. Information Sharing

1.     Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (OECD)
Senior representatives from national nuclear regulatory offices “exchange information, review developments, and review current practices and operating experiences.”  Resources include policy papers and research reports re operating nuclear facilities.

2.     European Atomic Energy Community
Known as EURATOM, this body “helps to pool knowledge, infrastructure, and funding of nuclear energy.”  Resources include EU commission documents and links to all relevant EU laws, evaluations, studies, and standards.

3.      “The Global Nuclear Safety and Security Network (GNSSN)  is a portal to “existing networks and information resources i.e. internationally accessible information and data sources, whether open or password protected that critical knowledge” established so that “experience, and lessons learned about nuclear safety and security are exchanged as broadly as they need to be.”

4.     International Nuclear Law Association
The INLA facilitates “studies and knowledge of legal issues related to the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy, with a focus on protecting persons, property and the environment; the exchange of information between members of the Association; and scientific co-operation with other organizations having similar objectives.”

B. Safety
When nuclear science is used in medicine, energy generation, and manufacturing, safety standards and regulations seek to assure that all supplies are accounted for and that accidents do not happen.

1.     Asian Nuclear Safety Network
“Pools, analyzes and shares nuclear safety information, existing and new knowledge and practical experience among Asian countries… facilitates sustainable regional cooperation and creates human networks and cyber communities among the specialists of those countries.”

2.     Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (OECD)
Assists OECD member countries “in maintaining and further developing the scientific and technical knowledge base required to assess the safety of nuclear reactors and fuel cycle facilities.”  Resources include much technical instruction.

3.     European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (EU) 
Comprised of senior nuclear officials in the EU member states, this group works to assure safe nuclear installations, safe management of spent fuel, and safe decommissioning of nuclear installations.  Resources include internal documents about the group’s work and also some good clear factual explanations about nuclear safety and radioactive waste disposal.

4.     International Atomic Energy Association (UN)  Safety Standards page- “The Global Nuclear Safety and Security Framework (GNSSF) is a basic conceptual structure and a set of guiding principles for achieving and maintaining a high level of safety and security at nuclear facilities and activities around the world.” (IAEA)

5.     International Commission on Radiological Protection
“Since 1928, ICRP has developed, maintained, and elaborated the International System of Radiological Protection used world-wide as the common basis for radiological protection standards, legislation, guidelines, programs, and practice.”  Resources include hundreds of reports on radiation in medical settings, airplanes, commercial products, etc…  Though not involved with law development or legal enforcement, the ICRP would be a good source for trial facts and expert witnesses.

6.     Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD)
“assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for the safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”  Resources include country reports and an ongoing series of policy papers specifically on the topic of nuclear regulation.

C. Security
International security measures prepare governments to handle nuclear accidents and intentional nuclear destruction.

1.     Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization
Really a preparatory commission, readying for the day when the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty goes into effect, this organization works to prevent countries from testing prospective or actual nuclear weapons.  Resources include explanations of the different types of nuclear weapons tests, descriptions of countries’ testing programs, and resources about the verification regime used to ascertain when and where nuclear explosions occur.

2.     International Atomic Energy Association—Nuclear Security
The IAEA serves to “review the general status of measures that protect against nuclear terrorism and identify ways to improve a broad spectrum of nuclear security activities.”  Resources include security guidelines, fact sheets, periodicals, and training materials.

3.     Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism - Project Geiger (Interpol).
Project Geiger maintains a database about illegal trafficking in nuclear and radiological materials.  Resources include a monthly news journal, fact sheets, and authoritative reports about trafficking activities, but these publications are only available through Interpol’s National Central Bureaus.

4.     United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
The UNODA “fosters disarmament measures through dialogue, transparency and confidence-building on military matters, and encourages regional disarmament efforts.”  Resources include occasional papers, studies, several databases (including the resolutions and decisions database and the database of military expenditures), the Disarmament Yearbook, materials for educators, and a forthcoming repository of information provided by nuclear weapon states.

5.     UN Security Council 1540 Committee
Security Council Resolution 1540, from the year 2004, “imposes binding obligations on all States to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and their means of delivery, including by establishing appropriate controls over related materials. It also encourages enhanced international cooperation on such efforts, in accord with and promoting universal adherence to existing international non proliferation treaties.” Resources include the original and related resolutions, a database of national laws demonstrating compliance with the resolution, and reports on implementation.

6.     Zangger Committee
This group of national representatives, “formed following the coming into force of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to serve as the ‘faithful interpreter’ of its Article III, paragraph 2, to harmonize the interpretation of nuclear export control policies for NPT Parties.”  Resources include committee meeting documents and UN documents about exports of nuclear materials and goods having nuclear potential.

Treaties
This treaty listing includes some guidance documents, such as codes of conduct, which are not strictly treaties because they arise more from the work of international organizations than from collective government negotiation.  However, because of their informational role in standardizing expectations and advising regulatory development, these documents will be useful to researchers alongside treaties.

Although the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945, it was not until 1963 that the first nuclear weapons treaty, The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, was enacted.  Read about the history of treaties on nuclear issues here or here.   

Master Nuclear Treaty Lists are available from:
IAEA
EISIL - nuclear energy and  nuclear weapons

Treaties about Handling & Transportation of Nuclear Materials

•  Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and Supplementary Guidance on the Import and Export of Radioactive Sources

• Convention Related to Civil Liability in the Field of Maritime Carriage of Nuclear Material
  Guidelines for Nuclear Transfers (NSG)
• Guidelines for Transfers of Nuclear-Related Dual-Use Equipment, Materials, Software, and Related Technology
• Code of Conduct on the Safety of Research Reactors (IAEA)
• Agreement Between the Republic of Argentina, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and the IAEA for the Application of Safeguards
• Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Technologies
  
  

Treaties about National Cooperation on Nuclear Matters

• Standard Basic Assistance Agreement between the UN Development Program and Member States

• Supplementary Agreement Concerning the Provision of Technical Assistance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (for governments that have concluded the Standard Basic Assistance Agreement)
• Supplementary Agreement Concerning the Provision of Technical Assistance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (for governments that have not concluded the Standard Basic Assistance Agreement)
• Fourth Agreement to Extend the 1987 Regional Agreement for Research, Development, and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology
• African Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology
• Cooperation Agreement for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Cooperative Agreement for Arab States in Asia for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology
• Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology for Asia and the Pacific
  
  

Treaties about Waste Management

• Code of Practice on the International Transboundary Movement of Radioactive Waste
• Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
• Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter

 

Treaties about Nuclear Weapons

• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

• U.S. –USSR Strategic Offensive Reductions (START) (1991)
  (1993)
• Treaty Between the U.S. and Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) 2010
• Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism
• African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty)
• Cairo Declaration
• The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America(Treaty of Tlatelolco)
  amendments  
• South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Rarotanga Treaty)
  protocols  
• Antarctic Treaty (prohibiting nuclear explosions in Antarctica)
• Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space,  and Under Water

 

Treaties about Nuclear Damage

• Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (includes 1964 & 1982 Protocols)
• 2004 Protocol to Amend the Paris convention on Third Party Liability
• Brussels Supplementary Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability
• 2004 Protocol to Amend the Brussels Supplementary Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability
• Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage
• Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage
• Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage
• Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention
• Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident
• Convention on Assistance in the Case of Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency)
• National Legislations’ Priority Rules on Nuclear Damage (neither a treaty nor official, but related)

 

National Laws on Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons

Sites that can lead researchers to nuclear agencies and policies:

• WorldLII’s list of national energy authorities

• Nuclear Legislation in OECD Member Countries
• Handbook on Nuclear Law (IAEA)- Volume I informs national legislatures of the domestic legal requirements set forth in international agreements. Volume II presents narrative summaries, model provisions, and other practical information to help national governments compose and implement nuclear legislation.
• National Source Documents compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative
• World Nuclear Association’s Nuclear Outlook Data

 

Examples of national law:

China
Nuclear Legislation  (Browse by year and click on “find” for “nuclear.”)
Regulatory Agency:
China  Atomic Energy Agency

France
See Legifrance for legislation.  Use search term: “nucleaire”
Regulatory Agencies
Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs (ANDRA)
Autorité de sûreté nucléaire 
Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique

 

Japan
Nuclear Legislation
Regulatory Agencies
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

Russia
Regulatory Agency:
Federal Service for Environmental, Technical, and Nuclear Supervision

Turkey
Regulatory Authority—Turkish Atomic Energy Authority

United States
Nuclear Legislation
Regulatory agencies:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission

 

Case Reports
The International Atomic Energy Agency is responsible for monitoring national compliance with international nuclear agreements.  When that agency has reason to believe that a country is violating international agreements, it informs the UN Security Council, which can issue resolutions, statements, and sanctions. Here are Resolutions and Statements relevant to nuclear issues.  These efforts typically rally national governments to cease certain aspects of trade with the non-compliant country or to freeze assets, etc…   National governments themselves, individually or collectively, can seek advice or action from the International Court of Justice.  Victims harmed by inadequate or failed nuclear safeguards can sue in domestic court or bring claims in human rights tribunals.  Most of the regional human rights tribunals have not dealt with nuclear issues, but there have been some nuclear cases in the European Court of Human Rights.  

Here are some of the most well known international nuclear cases:

• Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal (Personal injury claims by residents of the Marshall Islands who suffer harm resulting from U.S. nuclear testing)
• ICJ- Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons
• ICJ- Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict
• ICJ- Nuclear Tests (Australia v. France)
• ICJ- Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v.  France)

 

Books about Nuclear Law
International nuclear energy law books might be classed in various places within the US Library of Congress’s  K3600-3990 call number range, but nuclear energy regulation specifically falls in K3986-K3990.
Examples:
Nuclear Law: The Law Applying to Nuclear Installations and Radioactive Substances in its Historic Context by Stephen Tromans
The Oceans in the Nuclear Age: Legacies and Risks by Edited by David Caron and Harry N. Scheiber
International Comparison of Nuclear Power Plant Staffing Regulations and Practice 1980-1990
Edited by B. Melber, et al.
Nuclear Energy Law After Chernobyl  Edited by Peter Cameron, et al.
Updating International Nuclear Law Edited by Heinz Stockinger, et al.

Nuclear Weapons Law is amidst other use of force materials in the US Library of Congress’s KZ 5600’s, and 6300’s-6400’s.
Examples:
ASEAN, the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone and the Challenge of Denuclearisation in Southeast Asia : Problems and Prospects by Bilveer Singh
The use of nuclear weapons and the protection of the environment during international armed conflict by Erik Vincent Koppe
Nuclear Weapons and Contemporary International Law by Nagendra Singh and Edward McWhinney

Journals
Canadian Military Journal

Energy Law Journal

International Journal of Nuclear  Law

Military Law Review

Nuclear Law Bulletin (Nuclear Energy Agency)

Nuclear Regulation